I think you all remember OKTHEN, the one who told us all an easy way to list files and folders in a directory into a file through a context menu. He posted it as a comment. Well last day he commented on the post to correct some mistakes in the comment. Here is his new comment :

sorry i messed up a while back
cmd /c dir %1 /a /b >%1\list.txt

would not only be unable to list files in folders with long file names but also it would not be able to output the list.txt to a folder with a long file name in order for it to work with long folder names, u need to use quotes around the %1’s also, if you use >> instead of > It will append to any existing list.txt in the folder you are catalogging instead of replacing the text file with a new one

if you want to append to a pre-existing list.txt when one already exists in the output folder then use:

cmd /c dir “%1? /a /b /s >>”%1?\list.txt

or if you want it to replace a possibly pre-existing list.txt in the same output folder every time

cmd /c dir %1 /a /b >%1\list.txt

————————————————
if you don’t wanna screw around in regedit
————————————————
then copy the following to a notepad document and then save it (where you can find it to click on) as listfiles.reg (NOTE make sure when u are in the save as dialog box in notepad you must use quotes around “listfiles.reg” otherwise it will loose its .reg extension and be useless)

[Start copy below this line]

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\Make FileList]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shell\Make FileList\command]
@=”cmd /c dir \”%1\” /a /b /s >>\”%1\”\\list.txt”

[End copy above this line]

once the above is saved into a file called “listfiles.reg”
find the file in whatever folder you put it in
Right click on the file, left click on Merge
a box will ask are you sure? Yes/No click Yes

now you have a new command available “Make FileList”
when you right click any folder you will see this option

if you left click on the option it will then create a new file within that folder called list.txt which contains the contents of that folder as it was each time you told it to make a list

i realized awhile back i did not afford for long folder names but only now decided to correct it since i want to use almost the exact same thing to create a context deltree command (for quick erasure of files when i want it without using 1: shift+delete or 2: telling recycle bin to never be active keep files)

I am sorry that after his comment I didn’t check the method he mentioned. Actually his methos is easier. He has made it a lot more easier this time by telling a method to do it by using a reg file.

Hi OKTHEN,
thank you very much. BTW since I don’t know your email or website I can’t contact you. So please send me your contact details if you don’t mind. If you are interested in doing a guest post please ..

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